The move is part of an "externalisation" drive by the British drugmaker, which is selling non-core products to help it fill a short-term revenue gap caused by older products going off product, while investing in a pipeline of new medicines.

Entocort had US sales of $89 million in the first nine months of 2015.

The deal, which is expected to complete by the end of 2015, follows AstraZeneca's sale of rights to Entocort outside the United States in July to Tillotts Pharma, part of the Zeria Group.

AstraZeneca said its earnings per share outlook for the year, which was upgraded at third-quarter results earlier this month, would not change as a result of the Perrigo transaction.

Only in India the healthcare financing is very small when compared to the financing by the other forces rather than the patient himself or herself paying out of pocket. Having 70-75% of the expenses as out-of-pocket, in my opinion, is not a right approach to managing healthcare in a country where the patients tend to sub-optimally purchase healthcare if he/she has to pay out-of-pocket.